Greater New Orleans

Exposition Avenue kitchen calls for Kid Smart art

Kathy Anderson / The Times-PicayuneA painting by Campbell Hutchinson hangs above a bench by Tatum Clinton in an alcove off the kitchen of a sunny Exposition Avenue home.

THE HOME: A three-story Victorian overlooking Audubon Park

THE OWNERS: Evelyne and Philip Clinton

THE SPACE: The kitchen

WHY THEY LOVE IT: 'I love the fact that people hang out in here. And I like being able to see my backyard fountain from the kitchen, ' Evelyne Clinton says.

ARTFUL BEGINNINGS: Evelyne Clinton grew up in Abbeville and says, only partly joking, that she spent most of her high-school years "sitting in the hallway." "I was always in trouble for talking in class, cracking jokes -- I even got kicked out of P.E."

Her turnaround came with a senior-year course in art, and an art teacher who became mentor and confidante. "She took me in. She said, 'You're really good at this.' It was the first time I'd found something to be passionate about."

Now, Clinton is returning the favor, through her own role as a local artist as well as her support for Kid smART, a program that provides professional arts education to 1,700 students in 14 local schools. "It saves a lot of kids, in the sense that it gets them involved, encourages creativity and gives them something tangible as a product of their efforts."

The tangible rewards of art are evident in Clinton's own home environment: Her canvases and pieces by many other artists adorn her walls, shelves and mantelpieces. And, perhaps improbably, her kitchen.

Kathy Anderson / The Times-PicayuneWhen Evelyne Clinton renovated the kitchen in 2004, she drew on her artistic abilities -- and is now helping to pass along that kind of creative spirit through Kid SmART, a local organization that takes art education into schools.

A painting of a pert Highland calf by Campbell Hutchinson leans against the subway-tile backsplash next to the refrigerator; a vertical row of five diminutive abstracts adds whimsical color to a narrow wall near the back door. Seashells fill a tall glass vase, and paintings are propped on counters here, the range-hood ledge there.

The space itself leans to the artistic, with high transom windows over the cabinets and a floor-to-ceiling wall of glass across the back that not only washes the room in sunshine, but also offers literal trompe l'oeil-like views of a backyard patio and bubbling fountain.

COUNTRY FRENCH: "We did the kitchen ourselves, " Clinton said. "The house was one of four identical Victorians on Exposition Boulevard that were built in 1890 from wood that came from dismantling the 1884 Cotton Centennial."

She moved into the sprawling three-story home in 1998, although she and her husband, Philip, didn't get around to redoing the 1970s-era kitchen until six years later.

"It had thousands of tiny recessed lights in the ceiling, and I could never figure out what switch turned on which lights, " Clinton said. "And the former owner was 6 feet tall and had raised all the counters. I had to stand on a chair to put the glasses away."

Clinton re-envisioned the space on paper, moving doorways and sketching in an island with sink and an L-shaped banquette beneath the windows. She picked a paint color -- "Paris Rain, " a soft, sagey greenish-beige -- and then turned over the demolition work to Phillip and daughter Tatum, now 15.

"My brother-in-law and husband laid the slate floor themselves, and Philip painted all the walls, " Clinton said. She drew the cabinet layout she wanted, and a woodworking company crafted the pieces by hand.

Like the original house, the renovation, Clinton said, "used things from the demolition of other houses -- transoms and windows and woodwork."

An old pine farm table from France sits in front of the banquette, which is upholstered in a French toile. "I used a staple gun to cover the cushions, which the kids used to throw at each other, " Clinton said with a laugh. Between them, she and her husband have three daughters. "The whole idea was to have a table where they could sit and do their homework, which didn't work at all."

ROOM TO MOVE: Instead, the space became part den, part kitchen, part TV room, but wholly sanctuary. It's a room friendly to kids and dogs, but its subtle palette and sophisticated moldings make an elegant statement as well.

Her culinary skills run to "anything Southwest Louisiana, " and she splurged on an oversized gas range with a small baking oven beneath, for things like pizza, in addition to a bigger electric one, as well as a warming drawer. "I love it. I don't burn the bread any more."

Lighting is direct and functional: a few carefully placed cans and a pair of simple Restoration Hardware pendants over the island.

Clinton enclosed an adjoining porch to create an alcove for pets and muddy clothes. It holds another Highland bull by Hutchinson, which hangs over the one piece of furniture that Clinton said she would pack for the next evacuation: a small wooden bench painted like a spotted cow, made by Tatum in a fourth-grade wood shop class at McGehee School.

"She made it as a tribute to our dog, Lola, " Clinton said.

CYCLE OF LIFE: Clinton left the bench behind when the family evacuated to Colorado for Hurricane Katrina. She rediscovered something equally important, however, during the year her family spent there.

"I have a degree in art, but had quit painting for years, " she said. "I started again after Katrina, while I was in Colorado."

It turns out that well-known New Orleans artists Allison Stewart and Hutchinson, her husband, had evacuated to the same corner of Colorado. "She was in a studio close to mine, and she became a great mentor, " Clinton said. "She could see what I was doing objectively, and gave me a lot of constructive advice."

In another bit of life symmetry, Stewart and Hutchinson got Clinton involved in Kid smART.

"They started the program -- it was their baby, " said Clinton, a willing draft choice and co-chair of Thursday's Kid smART fundraiser. "I know personally how art changes your whole world. You just see things differently."

KID SMART PARTY

WHAT: The cocktail party, with music by NOCCA's Jeremy Marx Trio, benefits Kid smART, a local program that provides art education in schools.